Restating Our Core Position on the SPCA Mess

On January 10 Someone Noticed stated its position on the allegations about serious animal abuse at the SPCA. Even more than when we stated this a week ago, right now what is need is to address the serious questions raised by those charges but as some try damage control they only compounded the situation. The validity of these charges won’t be resolved on the Internet, in the Whig, or by having an investigation that has the potential to be biased (even if only perceived).

We say again, please commissioners, please now make sure the right things happen for all, as you said you were going to do last week. With one of our cats sitting almost on top of the keybard, we say it again, let’s do the right things for the animals and for the people involved.

We see the “SPCA update” is on the Commissioner’s Agenda for Jan. 20 so hopefully the report will be one that says the AG (or whichever independent source) is going to do it, here’s the timeline, the fundamental things like that, which will help restore trust. Then please stay out of the investigation until it’ s over.One more thing, stop the threats. Don’t deal with complaints through threats, deal with them through the facts. From what we’re hearing, there’s been way too much in the way of attacking people. Back when that first report surfaced in October and someone deeply knowledgeable about the matter launched a blog attacking the Baltimore TV reporter, there’s been too much of that. If you had an independent investigation saying we were cleard and here it is, what better defense rather than attacking people.

These are serious allegations and what is needed now is for an independent, believable investigation to determine what happened at the SPCA. The allegations are considerable and now that the situation has been allowed to escalate to crisis-like proportions, the only thing that will resolve it is an independent review, which lets the public know what corrective actions, if any, are needed. If the charges are unwarranted (don’t forget they could be) and people’s names need to be cleared we certainly need to know that from highly trusted independent sources now. Or if corrective measures are needed to ensure the appropriate environment of care for the animals that needs to happen without delay as well, for this could also be the case as we look at the volume of complaints from many different individuals, many of them willing to sign legal affidavits. The bottom line here is none of us will know the concluding facts based on what we’re able to read on the Internet for there is no vetting by an unconnected authority. Perhaps in addition to whatever criminal review occurs through the Attorney General’s Office, it is time to have the National Humane Society or National SPCA come in and do a best practices examination of the quality of the animal care.

4 responses to “Restating Our Core Position on the SPCA Mess”

While you’re noticing things, have you noticed that Delegate Smiegel edits his “official” blog to delete posts that are inconsistent with his positions? Have you noticed that the “sworn affidavit” of Theresa Vanscoy posted by Delegate Smiegel isn’t sworn, nor is it an affidavit? Have you noticed that the information contained in the “sworn affidavit” is, by definition, at least nine years old?

I agree that an independent investigation is appropriate, but why would you give any space to Delegate Smiegel’s allegations without commenting on the obvious bias in those allegations, as well as the lack of any relevant, timely factual basis for those allegations?

There’s so much to notice here and we’re sure the Mayor and Commissioners of Elkton are missing us noticing things over there right now too.

But here’s the bottom line for any and all stakeholders (animals, employees, SPCA as a corporation, county taxpayers, etc. etc.,) These allegations are so so serious, they should’ve been investigated immediately by an outside, believable, reliable and trustworthy investigation source.

That’s the right thing to do for all. If these things are true, the animals and taxpayers needed protection a long time ago and things needed urgent correction. If they’re wrong, people’s name need to be cleared. There it is — that simple.

We said that as soon as this thing started breaking. It also strong strikes us that the Whig isn’t out there calling for an investigation on this.

Can you imagine if the organization had been able to produce independent reports saying that the complaint had been investigated and here’s what (some agency) found. What better defense against the rumors. It strikes us that this type of thing hasn’t come through for if that type of evidence existed it surely would’ve been produced. On the Baltimore TV reports, someone in an official capacity should have been speaking for the organization because it creates an unwanted perception, if these are just unfounded rumors.

What a case study from most sides on how not to handle this situation. It shouldn’t take this much noise to get trusted actions.

That’s what strikes us. How logical is that? But
I don’t want those Chesapeake City Bloggers to start jumping on Someone Noticed because we’re worried more about the county’s reputation than the animals! They’re a feisty lot down in Canal Town and once we found their blog years ago we put it on our bookmarked reading list for there was news about happenings down that way, that couldn’t be found in print. They also knew how to stir it up a little too with some digging and some opinions tossed in for added reader value, something our legacy media has forgotten.

We are animal people and if these things are true, we can only shake our heads at the sadness of this and hope that corrections are made quickly. And it took such noise to make the elected political leadership pay attention. Then again if they’re not true it took so much to clear the names. Shaking our head again!

It’s all about the facts. Just do it, get the best investigation we can. We do believe things are headed in that direction finally after what we read on Pet News earlier. A state police investigation, an investigation by the State Vets Board, and a review by the national organizations, that should do it. But goodness the volume to finally get everyone on board and headed in the right direction. Largely this was very late in coming.

We’re not going to develop facts on the net, no one is (nor in the Whig for that matter). It created the buzz that get enough political support to finally make it happen!

Unbelievable. What a case study on how to mismanage something from multiple angles.

Maybe out of this will come a real virtual news site as the county is going more and more to online news. The cost of doing it is low. We’d seen a few hopeful prospects for doing that and we suspect that CanalSide Blogger would be a good candidate. She was bringing home Chesapeake City happenings years ago and there was a time when it was all the buzz in town, with people reading it regularly for what was going on there. We were amazed early on in the history of these blogs how much attention that blogger got, but obviously it was something people wanted.

Purpose

Originally concentrating on saving some Public Open Space Elkton proposed selling to a developer, we expanded the blog's focus once the Mayor and Commissioners abandoned the attempt. During the nearly year-long process, Someone Noticed found that many important subjects at town meetings weren’t being covered by the media and we also established a regular readership. In consideration of all these elements, we are now focusing more broadly on the “411 on the Mayor and Commissioners of the Town of Elkton” and subjects of broad civic interest to the Greater Elkton Community, especially when it isn't covered by other media. (see about section for more details.)